Turkey detains banned Kurdish politicians

ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Turkish police Wednesday arrested 16 former members of the banned pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP.

They were detained and questioned as part of an investigation into allegations that they belong to an urban branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, the Anatolia news agency reports. Police raided 25 locations and seized material, the news agency said. Similar raids took place last month.

Turkey's constitutional court outlawed the DTP in December, banning 37 members from politics for five years because of allegations of ties to the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington.

The DTP has since appealed the decision at the European Court of Human Rights. Many of its former members have now established ties with the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP.

Ankara in 2009 announced it would back cultural considerations for Kurdish citizens and consider amnesty for several militants from the minority community. The court ban, however, threatened to unravel the effort to find a political solution to the Kurdish issue.

The government in the wake of the ban arrested scores of pro-Kurdish officials, including BDP and DTP members, because they delivered speeches in support of the PKK.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/02/03/Turkey-detains-banned-Kurdish-politicians/UPI-39551265230979/.